In Episode 59 of Mil History Talk, Hope takes the Book Review Desk—now apparently a permanent assignment—and dives into Sean Naylor’s Relentless Strike. This landmark 2013 work traces the evolution of Joint Special Operations Command from the failure of Desert One in 1980 to its rise as America’s premier counterterrorism strike force during Iraq and Afghanistan. Hope breaks down Naylor’s central argument: that JSOC didn’t just conduct raids—it built a system, integrating intelligence, surveillance, and strike capabilities into a relentless operational machine. But this isn’t hero worship. The episode explores the book’s controversy within the SOF community and, more importantly, its limitations. Hope challenges listeners to think critically about what’s missing—particularly the long-term strategic and civil-military implications of industrialized targeted killing. Essential listening for military professionals, students of counterterrorism, and anyone interested in how institutions adapt under pressure—and what that adaptation costs.